First ovary transplant mother to give birth in fertility landmark

Published on Sunday 9 November 2008 00:25

A WOMAN who was made infertile in her teens is set to give birth this week to the world's first ever baby conceived from transplanted ovaries.

The 38-year-old woman, who lives in London, underwent an early menopause at the age of 15 after her ovaries ceased to function. However, a pioneering procedure, which involved implanting a healthy ovary taken from her twin sister, has enabled her to successfully conceive her first child without the aid of IVF.

The new technique is not only a major breakthrough in infertility treatment, but also offers hope for women who suffer problems such as osteoporosis.

As well as holding and releasing eggs, the organs produce oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone, which regulate the menstrual cycle. A lack of these hormones after the onset of the menopause causes the brittle bone disease and can have a number of other physical effects. After receiving her sister's ovary, the woman's periods have returned and there have been signs of improvement in symptoms of osteoporosis she has been suffering since her teens.

Ovary transplants could also help the thousands of women diagnosed annually with cancer who risk infertility as a result of chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Their ovaries could be removed before treatment and reimplanted at a later date.

The transplant was carried out in America early last year by microsurgery pioneer Dr Sherman Silber, at the Infertility Center of St Louis in Missouri, using keyhole surgery. The extraordinarily intricate procedure entailed implanting the walnut-sized ovary into the recipient and individually connecting the tiny blood vessels in her fallopian tubes to the organ.

"Reconnecting these blood vessels deep inside the pelvis can be a tactical challenge. The ovarian artery is less than a third of a millimetre in diameter, in fact so small many gynaecologists have never seen it," Dr Silber said.

After just three months, the woman began normal ovulation, within five months her hormones were at normal levels, and around a year after the transplant she became pregnant.

Coming from her twin – who will therefore be the biological mother of the child – the ovary had a greater chance of being accepted by the body.

Although gynaecologists have already transplanted pieces of ovarian tissue, which have resulted in at least three births, this is the first known pregnancy from a whole ovary transplant.